STOP AMERICAN TROPHY HUNTERS FROM LEGALLY POSSESSING AND IMPORTING IVORY TO THE US

H.R. 226, the African Elephant Conservation and Legal Ivory Possession Act would legalize the importation and possession of ivory, allowing hunters that kill elephants to bring their “trophies” home to the US. This bill is purely a gift to trophy hunters and serves no scientific, educational or conservation benefit.

We are at a precipice, and could see the end of elephants in our lifetime. Every 15 minutes an elephant is hunted. Wild elephants lost a third of their population between 2007 and 2014. The only way to end the illegal ivory trade is to end the demand for all ivory, as hundreds of countries have agreed to do.

In 2016 the governments of 183 countries agreed to adopt protections for elephants as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) at the COP17 conference. The international community has been negotiating for these protections for decades. After many years of difficult lobbying, China- the world’s largest ivory market, has finally agreed to implement restrictions on ivory. Even consideration of H.R. 226 would signal to China and other ivory trading countries that the U.S. does not take the protection of elephants, nor the enforcement of ivory restrictions seriously, and it would threaten to dismantle the crucial CITES agreement.

Additionally, H.R.226 is a direct violation of the CITES agreement under Article III: Regulation of Trade in Specimens of Species in Appendix I which states:

The import of any specimen of a species included in Appendix I shall require the prior grant and presentation of an import permit and either an export permit or a re-export certificate. An import permit shall only be granted when the following conditions have been met:(a) a Scientific Authority of the State of import has advised that the import will be for purposes which are not detrimental to the survival of the species involved;(c) a Management Authority of the State of import is satisfied that the specimen is not to be used for primarily commercial purposes.The import of ivory obtained by any means is detrimental to survival of the species. H.R. 226 authorizes commerce in African elephant ivory or in products containing African elephant ivory, and therefore violates two conditions of the CITES agreement.

We MUST keep a ban on the possession and trade of ivory, no matter the means in which it is obtained to show the world that the US is committed to elephant protection and the enforcement of the CITES agreement.

Please reject H.R. 226, and remove it from consideration in all committees.

Read the bill here: congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/226Learn more about CITES here: Cites.org